Witchcraft and Science in the Renaissance

WITCHCRAFT AND SCIENCE IN THE RENAISSANCE
The Witch of Edmonton, The Late Lancashire Witches,
and Renaissance altitudes toward science
Andrea Rohlfs WRIGHT
Texas Christian University
Ph.D. Candidate
Abstract
Though foundational theories of modem science emerged during the Renaissance,
the arguttbly nonscientific bdiefs in witchcraft and the consequent jxrsecution of
zoitches coexisied with these incipient, rationalistic scientific theories. This coexistence
centered around the notion of control, as patriarchal members of ruling classes asserted
their auihority, simultaneously persecuting "witches" and focusing on the mechanism
of science. Two seventeenth-century plays, The Witch of Edmonton and The Late
Lancashire Witches, reflect this dichotomy, suggesting an unwavering belief in mtches
but subtly hinting that their persecution has perhaps gone too far. The plays idtimatdy
reflect a transition betvxen animism and mechanical control, community and
individuality, showcasing societal change during the emergence of "neio" science.^
Since the demise oí witch persecution in the eighteenth century,
Renaissance witchcraft scholars have been unendingly intrigued by
the notion that two inherently distinct epistemologies —demonolo-
Author Note:
I would Uke to théink Alan Shepard for allowing me the freedom to explore the
ramiñcations of witchcraft and science in his interdisciplinary course and fbr his
insightful remarks conceming my eirguments.
I would also Uke to thank the Kentucky State University Institute for Liberal
Studies for the opportunity to read this pajjer at the Interdisciplinary Conférence
on Science and ¿lílture. Fiiuilly, I thank Dan Wright for his continual support.
Correspondence conceming this article should De addressed to: Andrea Kohlfs
Wright, Department of English, Texas Christian University, TCU Box 32872, Fort
Worth, Texas, 76129; emaifaddress, awright@gamma.is.tcu.edu.
Éndoxa: Series Filosóficas, n? 7,1996, UNED, Madrid:
Andrea Rohfls Wright: WITCHCRAFT AND SCIENCE IN THE RENAISSANCE.
The witch of edmonton, the late lancashire witches, and renaissance attitudes
toward science.
pp. 217-230.
gy and rational science— could coexist in one period of time.
Regardless of the new scientific advances, people continued to
believe in the existence of witches, their verbal pacts with the
devil, and their consequent desire to adversely affect human health
and relationships. The decades at the beginning of the seventeenth
century were an especially rich period for predominance of this
dichotomy: Galileo was active at this time, defending the theories
of Copemicus; in 1628, Harvey published his treatise on the
circulation of the blood; yet in 1634, twenty women were convicted
in the county of Lancashire, England, for apparent witchcraft, and
even when their accuser "confessed his hoax", the govemment
kept the "witches" in jail for fear of public uprising (Barber, 1979).
How could the new science, with its stress on rational observation,
definite truth, and precise calculation, continué to accept the
persecution of witches, whose guilt was based predonünantly on
hearsay and social class?
Many scholars have attempted to answer this question, with
definite diversity in opinión as the result (e.g., Clark, 1991; Darst,
1989; Easlea, 1980; Webster, 1982). Such scholars, however,
concéntrate on the scientific connection to witchcraft without
analyzing what I consider to be a relevant and illuminating topic
in understanding this cormection —^üterature, and, more particularly, drama—. Much Renaissance drama included charac-terization
of witches that paralleled social altitudes not only toward witchcraft in general but toward incipient scientific beliefs. Two early
seventeenth-century plays, The Late Lancashire Witches and The
Witch of Edmonton, contain fascinating portrayals of witclies that
simultaneously suggest an unwavering belief in the reality of
witches and the subtle hints that the persecution of witches has
perhaps gone too far. This dichotomy within the two plays
juxtaposes with the dichotomy of witchcraft and science, thus
revealing the connection between the less negative characterization
of witches and the increasing skepticism about the unquestionable
belief in their existence. Slowly, as the seventeenth century
progressed, the epistemology that encompassed witchcraft began
218
to wane in favor of scientific advance. Both The Late Lancashire
Witches and The Witch of Edmonton reveal the dual epistemologies
of the seventeenth century that will eventually transform into one.
1. Brief History of Witch Persecution
The most recent scholarship claims that witch hunting began in
the fifteenth century rather than the thirteenth and fourteenth
centuries, as had previously been theorized (Henningsen &
Ankarloo, 1990). Thus, as Henningsen & Ankarloo claim, we must
«redefine it [witch persecution] as a Renaissance problem» rather
than as a medieval problem (p. 2). Perhaps the real beginning of
Reiuiissance witch hunting began with Kramer and Sprenger's
publication of Malleus Maleficarum, a 1486 treatise that discussed
the methods by which individuáis could discover and persecute
witches. Throughout the Renaissance, most people did not deny
the existence of witches; skeptics Johann Weyer and Reginald Scot
were despised and shunned in favor of writers such as Judge
Nicholas Remy and King James I, who in 1595 and 1600, respectively, published works outlirüng the undeniable existence of
witches, their Satanic misdeeds, and the necessity of punishing
them (Easlea).
How did Renaissance writers and other members of the general
populace rationally conclude that witches not only existed but
were a blight upon humanity that needed to be erased? The Bible
was the text most often cited as a jiistification for the existence of
witches. Almost every Renaissance writer dealing wifh the
phenomenon of witchcraft mentions particular biblical chapters
that deal with spirits, demons, and witches (e.g., A. Briggs, 1574;
Danaeus, 1575; Gifford, 1593; HoUand, 1590; King James I, 1597).
The sudden social upheaval that occurred during the Renaissance,
too, exacerbated the predominant fear of witchcraft. As the
minister George Giffoixi writes in 1593, «It falleth out in many
places even of a suddaine, as it seemeth to me, and no doubt by
the heavy judgement of God, that the Divels as it were let loóse.
219
doe more prevail than ever I have heard of» (p. A3). Modem
scholar Brian Easlea examines this idea in more detail; accoiding
to Renaissance beliefs, disease and other «afflictions were caused
by evil women using powers given them by Satán in retum for
their souls on death» (p. 3). This tremendous social chaos of the
time, including wars, peasant rebellions, poverty, famine, and
religious dissidence, had to be catised by something; that something, for Renaissance individuáis, was witchcraft. Other views
suggest not disaster or disease but the threat of status quo
reduction and even religious adversity as stimuli for witch
persecution (e.g., Scarre, 1987). Regardless of the definitive cause
of the witch hunting phenomenon, it became so predominant
during the Renaissance that over 100,000 witches were executed
throughout Europe during the relatively brief time period.
2. Witchcraft and the New Science
Several modem scholars have analyzed the coexistence of
witchcraft and science as a transition between two world views.
Thus, paradoxically, «we would do better to associate demonology
with the advancement of science than with its stagnation or decay»
(Clark, p. 226). Demonology and witchcraft were inseparable in the
Renaissance, and Clark traces the predominance of witchcraft to
the popular beliefs in superstition, an attitude deplorable to both
science and religión, and to the riatural "inefficacy" of witches that
eventually culminated in a new, rationalistic, world view that had
no room for demons. David Darst posits a similar view in his
analysis of the Renaissance división between natural magicians
and the Church. This división evolved into the intrusión of
witches; when natural magic became suspect, says Darst, the
linking of magic with the devil and consequently witchcraft
became predominant. The hunting of witches became the "trigger",
as Darst calis it, for «the demise of astrology and magic in the late
Rerwissance and for the astoundingly rapid acceptance of a
mechanized worldview» (p. 60). That acceptance did not occur
220
until the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, as Brian
Easlea explains, and it carne about as a result of an «antidemonological natural philosophy» (p. 201), a philosophy whose
source was «an almost overwhelming confidence displayed by
male members of ruling classes in their potential ability to control
events and an alnr\ost obsessive desire to impose such control» (p.
220).
Before this notion of a human-controlled universe —^buttressed
by God but eliminated from the powers of the Devil— gained
precedence in the later years of the Renaissance, the scientific
community still had to deal with prevailing notions about the
existence of witches. As Charles Webster explains, although witch
persecutions were declining and new science was simultaneously
rising, the scientific community, specifically the Royal Society of
England, could not dismiss witchcraft as false. According to
Webster, «the ethos of the new science was best preserved by
taking up a conservative stance on the question of witchcraft and
sorcery» (p. 99). If new scientists, then, still beüeved in the
existence of witches, why did witchcraft persecution decline?
Webster says that even though a basic belief in demonology still
prevailed, the fear of witchies' ability to control nature lessened
considerably with the rise of science.
Thus, control became the key term in Renaissance attitudes
toward both witchcraft and its eventual but rapid demise. Control
occurred within the period of witch persecution as élite, ruling
classes attempted to restore order to a chaotic universe; aa Robert
Muchembled (1990) pointedly asks, «Is not witch-hunting, despite
its spectacular appearance, simply one episode in the conquest of
the West European countryside by the forces of law and order?»
(p. 139). Control also occurred as a major factor in the demise of
witch persecution, as Easlea suggests. As scientists and consequently other male members of ruling classes began to believe that
they could control the universe through their own inventions
(although still requiring the almighty power of God), they were
caught between a still necessary belief in the existence of witches
221
and a total rejection of demonology. It is in this context that The
Late Lancashire Witches and The Witch of Edmonton appeared on the
London stage.
3. Witchcraft and Science in the Two Plays
The Late Lancashire Witches and The Witch of Edmonton are the
only two surviving Renaissance plays to be termed «witch plays»,
or plays «in which the presence and activities of witches iniform a
major part of the action» (Barber, 1979, 27). Critics also compare
them on the basis of their social and historical context: both were
speedily written joumalistic pieces that capitalized on events of
conten^porary witch triáis; both reveal English witchcraft in its
most well-known manifestations; and both were domestic dramas
that incorporated tragedy and comedy (e.g., Barber, 1979; Dawson,
1989; Harris, 1980; Onat, 1980). The Witch of Edmonton, a play based
on the actual trial of Elizabeth Sawyer, was recorded and published by Henry Goodcole in 1621. Though the play was not
published until 1658, it was first performed in 1621 after the
conclusión of the trial, which resulted in Elizabeth Sawyer's
execution. The trial of the sixty accused Lancashire witches had
not even concluded when Heywood and Brome wrote The Late
Lancashire Witches; according to Barber, it was probably presented
shortly after July 20, 1634, although the fate of the twenty
convicted witches was not determined until late July or August.
The Late Lancashire Witches contains a number of fast-moving,
active, and energetic plots. However, these plots are not very
cohesive, the structure of the entire play is convoluted and
occasionally verging on chaotic, and characterization is weak. Most
critics agree that the play lacks the qualities of an extraordinary
piece of literature^. Yet the play generated popularity as an on-
I faield to find any fuU-length, modem articles on
The Late Lancashire Witches; most scholars mentior it only
briefly, and usually with reference to The Witch of
Edmonton. The autnor of the critical edition of Dekker and
222
stage production for both royalty and general audiences; Barber
attributes this popularity to its visual qualities «the play was
meant to be seen and not to be read» (p. 87). Also, apparently,
summer audiences of the English theatre craved fast-moving
action, and the numerous subplots of this play certainly provide
it.
In contrast to the chaotic action of The Late Lancashire Witches,
The Witch of Edmonton reveáis a broader range of emotions and
greater depth of characterization that render it a far more successful play. It contains only three subplots that occasionally intertwine: the bigamy plot, which culminates in two deaths; the witch
plot, which reveáis the plight of a stereotypical English Renaissance hag; and the comic plot, which involves Cuddy Bank's
unsuccessful endeavors to woo Katherine with the help of
Sawyer's dog familiar.
The actual characterization of the witches in both plays reveáis
the authors' knowledge of popular attitudes toward witchcraft. As
exanrdned by Anthony Harris, in the post-Jacobean theatre,
witchcraft «became increasingly a source of humor»; this resulted
primarily from «the declining fear of witchcraft» (p. 176). Thus, the
humor apparent in Heywood and Brome's play not only delighted
theatregoers but may have reflected the rising skepticism of the
maleficium (bad deeds) that witches could produce. If one could
laugh at the essentially harmless antics of witches, then one could
certainly question whether or not witches perform acts of horror
and tragedy. Although most, and eventually all, of Heywood and
Brome's characters believe in the existence of witches, the fact that
comedy plays a central role reveáis a potential skepticism in the
Devil-like qualities of witches propounded by so many Renaissance thinkers. This potential skepticism, in tum, relates to the
slowly changing worldview —explored by Darst, Clark, and
Brome's play, L. Barber, provides an extensiva critical
introduction to the text; other authors who include brief
summaries and analyses of the play are Onat, Dawson, Harris, and
K.M. Briggs (1962).
223
Easlea— which included and incorporated the advancement of
science.
Our first glimpse of the Lancashire witches reveáis their playful
rather than harmful antics; Meg, one of the witches, asks, «What
new device, what dainty/straine/More for our myrth now then
our/gaine,/Shall we in practice put» (II.I). The witches proceed to
dance, laugh, and plan their "devices": they agree to "bring on the
sport" at Lawrence and Pamell's wedding and later cause the
hunters' greyhounds to run amuck. Their antics at the wedding are
funny when read and must have been uproarious when seen: a
Spirit breaks the wedding cake over Pamell's head, causing
crumbs to fall in her hair; a leg of Mutton becomes cold and then
grows horras; Birds fly out of the pie; the meat transforms into
«Snakes, Batts, Frogs, Beetles, Homets, and Humble-bees». This is
not the only comic scene in the play, by all means; another overthe-top scene of humor, though crude and explicit, involves the
impotence of Lawrence as a result of the witches' antics (ini.I).
Comedy as it relates to the witches is the only redeeming quality
of this play; when the play tums serious, it fails to elicit the
intended reactions. Thus, when Mr. Generous discovers that his
wife is a witch, we feel no synnpathy for either of them because of
the half-hearted nature of their speech. As soon as Mr. Generous
discovers that his wife's initial confession is false, he immediately
condemns her without remorse or guilt; Mrs. Generous feels little
pain or torment upon her final capture and marches to her fate
without agita tion. The comic witches pro ve much more successful
than the tragic subplot, causing the potential skepticism of the
maleficium oí witches to predomínate, though the male characters
still n\aintain an essence of control by eventually capturing the
witches.
In contrast with the comic witches of Heywood and Brome's
play, Mother Sawyer, the title character of The Witch of Edmonton,
is a tragic figure who exemplifies the typical accused and convicted witch of the Renaissance: oíd, poor, friendless, taunted, and
marginalized by the community. This initial characterization elicits
224
sympathy from the audience; we feel even greater sympathy for
Sawyer when we read how she "becomes" a witch. She can no
longer take the incessant abuse from the townspeople, and she
makes a pact with the devil as a consequence:
Still vex'd? still tortur'd? That Curmudgeon Banks,
Is ground of all my scandal. I am shunn'd
And hated like a sickness: niade a scom
To all degrees and Sexes . . .
I'm now ignorant: would some power good or bad
Instruct me which way I might be reveng'd
Upon this Church, I'd go out of my self. (11.1.94-104)
When Sawyer actvially becomes a witch, we are tom between
compassion for her alienation and repulsión for her misdeeds.
This compassion is new to the Renaissance stage; as Harris
explains, The Witch of Edmonton «is the first play to contain a fullscale portrayal of a witch where the protagonist is treated with
any measure of sympathy or understanding» (p. 90). Yet tht
revulsión is what keeps the play grounded in popular attitudes
toward witchcraft; no matter how much sympathy we feel for this
marginalized, ridiculed, scomed woman, she causes several acts of
maleficium within the play, including the madness of Anne Ratcliff,
and she may be the cause of Frank Thorney's fatal stabbing of one
of his two wives through the presence of her dog-familiar.^
Similar to The Late Lancashire Witches, skepticism is also prevalen! through the character of the Judge. He reflects the rational
beliefs of Reginald Scot, who consistently questioned witch
accusations based on flimsy evidence and hearsay. The Judge
converses at length with Oíd Banks about the folly of accusing
Critica! analyses vary concerning the role of Mother Sawyer in the death of
Susan. Dawson claims that the dog makes Frank commit the murder; Harris
beheves that the dog may have prompted Frank because of Frank's sinful thoughts,
but the dog himselr does not commit the crime; Comensoli (1989) also attributes
Frank's murderous impulse to a viciousness "within", though she agrees that the
scene suggests ambiguity rather than clarity.
225
Mother Sawyer of witchcraft; the judge asks, «Come, come; firing
her Thatch? ridiculous: take heed Sirs that you do: unless your
proofs come better arm'd, instead of tuming her into a Witch,
you'U prove your selves starke Fools» (rV.i.40-42). Upon Mother
Sawyer's confession of witchery, the Justice of course renounces
his skepticism and condemns her to death. Yet the extensive
passages of his skeptical attitudes combined with our sympathy
for Sawyer's plight suggest an overall skeptical attitude toward
rabid Renaissance witch persecution.*
In addition to the potential skepticism that reflects a gradually
rising belief ii\ the excesses of witch hunting, the two plays reflect
a growing consciousness of societal change that is, in part, a
reflection of new scientifíc attitudes. In The Late Lancashire Witches,
we see a tremendous amount of disorder caused by witches. The
major example of this disorder concems the family rearrangement
subplot. Until about halfway through the play, the witches have
forced a hierarchical upheaval in the family structure; the mother
and father now obey the commands of the son and daughter,
while the son and daughter obey the commands of the servants.
The social hierarchy realigns itself when the witches move on to
another playful game, which reassures all community members
and allows Lawrence and Pamell to marry properly. Interestingly,
this theme of social chaos juxtaposes with both traditional and
new scientifíc conceptions of control. The capture of the female
* This sympathy is a device originated by the authors of the play, further
iustifying the attitude of skepticism that parallels the changing epistemologies. In
nis pamphlet, Henry Goodcole (1621) writes a cold and straightforward
denunciation of Elizabeth Sawyer without even providing us with a context for her
supposed witchery. Although Goodcole claims that «It is none of my intent here
to discuss the dispute of Witches and Witchcraft» (p. 381), we immediately
recognize his true attitudes when he auestions her about her activities. His
questions are based on the assumption tnat she is undoubtedly a witch, without
any hint of skepticism. Goodcole's editorial comments during the reporting of the
tria) also prove his true feelings; he claims that «God did wonderfuUy overtake her
in her own wickedness» (p. 384), and later that she «behaved herself must sluttishly
and loathsomely» (p. 387). The play thus veers tremendously from the reported trial
and question/answer session, revealing the playwrights' compassion, sympathy,
and aimost scientifíc questioning of supposed "authority".
226
witches by male authority figures restores the traditiortal order of
family arrangement, yet at the same time it reflects the notions of
Darst and Easlea that the rise of the new science ocoirs when men
—patriarchs— are allowed to control the universe through
mechanical methods without unnecessary reliance on either
supematural or preternatural forces. Like members of the Royal
Society and practically all of the English populace, Heywood and
Brome covild not deny the existence of witches; at the same time,
the playwrights exhibit the notion of harmlessness associated with
witches and the dual facets of control evident during this era.
The Witch of Edmonton also centralizes a disturbance in social
order, but this disturbance is more subtle and complex. The
conflict between commurtíty, as represented by the accusing, and
individuality, as represented by the accused, parallels scientific
advancement. New scientists were forced into the unexplored
realm of individuality, performing experiments for the supposed
betterment of humanity, while still retaining the essence of
community and communal order that remained necessary for
traditional stability and hierarchical dominance. The authors of
The Witch of Edmonton do feel threatened by the loss of community,
stnce Mother Sawyer eventually does face the executioner, yet at
the same time, they believe that individuality deserves recognition
and respect —a new attitude conceived in the Renaissance and
aligned with scientific notions of individual discovery. The tightlyknit community of Edmonton is thrown into confusión not only by
the presence of Mother Sawyer, an alienated individual who does
not jell with their conception of community, but by economic
changes that forcé Frank to marry Susan, though he has already
married Winnifred. These economic changes associate with
individualistic valúes rather than those of the community, as
property becomes a commodity that individuáis need in order to
assure their reputations. Although the ending of the play reveáis
a retum to community, with the hanging of Mother Sawyer and
the communal forgiveness of Frank for murder, it remains
ambivalent because of the previous notions of individuality that
227
the authors have explored. We still feel sympathy for Mother
Savvyer, and we understand the importance of money for Frank
Thomey; Dekker, Rowley, and Ford display the new valúes of
individualism through both Mother Sawyer and Frank, but to
accord with popular conceptions of witchcraft they must retum to
traditional beliefs.
Similar to The Late Lancashire Witches, the idea of control also
asserts itself throughout the play. The patriarchs of the community, particularly Oíd Banks and Oíd Thomey, reclaim their
authority with the capture of Mother Sawyer. Although no glaring
inversions of hierarchy occur in The Witch of Edmonton, the male
members of the community need to eliminate the forcé that
threatens their control. Eliminating a witch relates to both the
traditional communal order and the authority that new scientists
will eventually feel in their unlimited mechanical power.
In this transitional period, however, witches and scientists in
essence shared powers of authority through their simultaneous
dominance o ver the mindsets of community members. Thus, when
scientists or their male community representatives were confronted
with a witch, they needed to eliminate its powers to multiply their
own. Eventually, when mechanical control became the more
acceptable and accepted altemative to demonology, power was
relegated exclusively to scientists. But during this complicated
transition between witchcraft and mechanics, the sharing of
powers essentially became a struggle for control, and as scientists
began to assert their authoritative control, they ceased to believe
in the damning control of witches.
Perhaps, then, The Late Lancashire Witches and The Witch of
Edmonton are caught between two epistemologies-community,
demonology, and tradition on the one hand and individuality,
science, and natural efficacy on the other. We can see through The
Late Lancashire Witches that the formar system is maintained, but
not without some hints of change in the humor, skepticism, and
lessened fear of witches. In The Witch of Edmonton, we see overt
skepticism in the character of the Judge and feel compassionate
228
sympathy for Mother Sawyer. Although the traditional system is
maintained here, also, we recognize the inherent deficiencies of
that system. Both plays concéntrate on the theme of control within
the era of witch persecution but also as a precursor to its eventual
demise. As Kors and Peters (1972) claim in their study of witchcraft, «from the beginning of the seventeenth century, when the
witch beliefs and persecutions appeared to be reaching new
heights, their foundations had already begun to crumble» (p. 14).
Those foundations were crumbling, I believe, because of a new
worldview that included individualism, skepticism, and the rise of
science. Although as Charles Webster rightly maintains, the
explosión of science did not directly cause the decline of witch
hunting, a new mechanical philosophy that grew out of scientific
advancements eventually resulted in the lessened fear of witches
and belief in a "demon-free" universe.
I believe that both plays, though very different in style and
intention, reflect a transitional stage between Aristotelian animism
and mechanical control. Other plays of the period could also reflect
this intermediary function; however, The Late Lancashire Witches
and The Witch of Edmqnton portray the transition with relation to
witchcraft and reveal the disparate notions of witchcraft as they
relate to changing conceptions of community, society, and science.
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